A self-curated archive of Marshall Weber’s own performance art pieces, this collection consists of performance-art-related ephemera (handwritten notes, exhibit planning material, stage preparation and performance instructions, cue sheets, visitor signing lists, and layouts for handbills and flyers) created by Weber and his collaborators; press material (including a range of mainstream and underground publications) and book-like artworks created for every performance; and media including photographs (multiple sizes, black and white and color), color slides, and selections of projection transparencies used during performances. Several performances are also documented in VHS, Beta tape, Video 8, Cassette Tape, CDs, and DVDs. 

Influenced by the anarchist punk aesthetic of the late 1970s, Weber’s performance art positions the human body as a credible platform for socio-political discourse. While a student at the San Francisco Art Institute, Weber paid close attention to classmates such as Karin Finley, Dale Hoyt, Gina Lamb, and Steve Hurd, and was greatly influenced by punk performers such as The Residents, Kristine Ambrosia, Lydia Lunch, Mexican/San Franciscan performance pioneer Guillermo Gómez-Peña, curator and activist René Yañez, and other Bay Area iconoclasts.

Created during the second wave of the Culture War, these works embodied the new Left’s political frontier, incorporating radical environmentalism, sexual and queer theory, POC and minority artists (especially women, Chicano, Black, Asian-American, and Indigenous individuals), and the oldest “demon” of them all: war and the expanding global arms trade

Since the 1980’s Weber has produced a large body of literary performance work, often outside of conventional venues. In 1994 he started the “Ulysses Cycle,” a decade-long series of marathon readings of literature in public spaces, with a 33-hour reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Bulk of materials: 1990’s – 2004’s (Inclusive Dates: 1980 – 2020)
Item Count: +2,249 Items (1,460 Exhibit Ephemera, 56 Media, 723 Slides, 10 performance artifacts including books used in the Ulysses Cycle endurance reading performances)

Notable Collaborators and Art Spaces:
9-11 (Seattle), Angel Orensanz Synagogue (New York City), Artist Television Access (SF), Barnsdal Art Center (Los Angeles), Booklyn (New York City), Bravehearts Theater (Madison), Joyce Burnstein, Center for Photography (U.S.S.R), Chicago Art Institute, Cleveland Performance Arts Festival (Ohio), Connecticut College, Der Plein Festival (Hague,  Netherlands), Dickson Place Theater (New York City), Focal Point Gallery (Seattle), Galerie Masn’e Kramy (Pilsen,  Czech), Galerie Regie (Geneva,  Switzerland), Gilman Street Project (Berkeley), Grux (SF), Chris Habib, Highways (Santa Monica), Hong Kong Cafe (Los Angeles), Howard Street Gallery (SF), Intermedia Arts (Minneapolis), Intersection for the Arts (SF), Jewish Minn. Center (Minnesota), Klingspor Museum (Offenbach,  Germany), Klub Kommotion (SF), L.A.C.E (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), Los Angeles Theater Center, Madison Arts Center (Wisconsin), Dutes Miller, Moscow State University, Munch Gallery (New York City), Name (Chicago), National Disgrace, Aaron Noble, Olympia Film Society (Washington), Organik, Phil Patrisi, Peter Plate, Printed Matter (New York City), Project UK (New Castle,  United Kingdom), Caroliner Rainbow, Richard Hugo House (Seattle), Richmond Arts Center (Richmond), Rigo, Fred Rinne, Rochester Memorial Gallery (New York), San Francisco Art Institute, Stan Shellabarger, Streetopia (SF), Teatro Signorelli (Cortona,  Italy), Texas Women’s University (Dallas) Tic Toc (Chicago), The Farm (SF), Time Based Art (Amsterdam), Tract 16 (Santa Monica), Ubik Gallery (SF), V2 Gallery Eindhoven (Netherlands), Western Front (Vancouver,  Canada), Christopher Wilde